Four local school districts affected by beef recall

Four school districts in the area have been affected by the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture beef recall - Charlevoix, East Jordan, Littlefield and Pellston public schools.

On Sunday, Feb. 17, the USDA ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Southern California, which is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation.

The recall affects beef products produced by the meat company dating back two years to Feb. 1, 2006.

Ron Vogel, USDA Food and Nutrition Service associate deputy administrator, said recently in release, that around 37 million pounds of the product were sent to school lunch programs and other domestic nutrition programs throughout the United States.

Shawn Biddle, business manager of Charlevoix Public Schools, said their district received between 300 and 400 pounds of the recalled beef.

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"That was in the form of spaghetti sauce, taco meat and hamburger patties," she said. "All that will be double wrapped and taped so that people can't get into it, and it will be disposed of."

Biddle said the district had to cancel a fundraiser tonight as a result of the recall.

"The Spanish class was supposed to have a spaghetti dinner tonight that we had to cancel," she said.

Chip Hansen, superintendent of East Jordan schools, said they received a minimal amount of the product, but none has been consumed.

"We did received some of the product but last Wednesday we received a notice from the USDA, and it got to us in time, so we didn't serve any of that product fortunately," he said. "Now we're just waiting for it to be picked up."

Pellston Public Schools reported that they had three cases, or 100 pounds, of the recalled beef delivered to the district in the form of taco meat and beef patties, which they say has not been served to students.

Tina Scott, head cook for Littlefield Public Schools, said their district had an order in place for more than 360 pounds of the recalled beef, but it never made it to the schools.

"Our sales representative stopped it (the order) and replaced it with stuff that wasn't affected," she said. "We never had the meat on-site thanks to Gordon Foods being on top of it."

Scott said their district has been using turkey products as a substitute for the beef since the recall, and she says they will continue to do so until the problem is solved.

Kathy Fruge, who works in the food service department at Boyne City Schools said she is pleased that her district has been fortunate enough not to be affected by the recall.